Intercultural consultancy

More than just translations

All too often, people hiring translation and localization services judge the quality of the service performed only by looking at the translated text. They perceive target texts as end-products, when, in fact, they are just a means to achieve a goal. A text can be a tool to raise awareness for your brand, products or services on a market. A text can be used to instruct users how to operate a device. A text can be meant to obtain an authorisation of some kind. But sometimes, it’s not even a text that’s needed. Maybe you just seek advice on how to communicate efficiently with your prospects on a new market. Or maybe you need a coherent long-term communication strategy which may involve the drafting (from scratch) of texts on an on-going basis.

Communicating with a foreign audience is no easy task. You have to know and foresee all their reactions, you have to know what is relevant to them and what not, what kind of message they usually react to, but also the messages you have to avoid. In one word, you have to know their culture. And what better way to do that is there than hiring a professional? Enter the intercultural consultant!

Expertise

So how can I help you?

Cultural counselling

Scenario #1 So you decided to invest on the Romanian market, you have sorted out the financial, logistic and legal details and you are looking to implement a coherent communication strategy with your prospects. Here is how I can help:

indicate the most appropriate communication channels for your purposes

advise you on how to approach your readers (is a formal tone needed? would an informal tone be more appropriate? what should your message be centred on? how can you avoid offensive topics?)

help you decide on what existing documents should and should not be translated

Scenario #2 You have documentation that you would need adapted for the Romanian market. You don’t know exactly what to translate and what not. Or maybe you’re not sure whether the texts you have can and should be translated into Romanian. It may be that parts of your documentation are simply incompatible with the expectancy of a Romanian speaking audience. My job in this case would be to indicate the right path, i.e. select the relevant documentation for your prospects, indicate solutions for sections that apparently are untranslatable.

Pharma and Clinical Research Content

Looking for a consultant and a translator for your pharma and clinical research content? The principles of intercultural consulting apply to the clinical field as well. Sometimes, you need to understand the cultural peculiarities of your prospective subjects, in order to draft culturally-sound info and recruiting materials and patient ICFs. Clinical trial kits might need to be adapted to the local culture simply because certain items that your subjects need to recognize and operate with (used in various scales and PROs) are not known to them. So if you are a CRO or a medical communications company and need cultural and linguistic services for Romanian, I am here to help! Click hereto view a full list of the types of documents I handle.

Credentials

MA in Translation Studies and Terminology (European Masters in Translations Network), Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca… Click here to see my full credentials

Service Mix

Specific content-related services

#Copywriting

Your brand tagline, campaign headline, print copy or ad scripts (TV&radio) adapted for the Romanian market. You will get three different carefully crafted options for your tagline/headline along with back translation and reasoning for each.

Software

CAT Tools

Testimonials

What my clients say about me

An excellent translator capable of handling complex terminolgy and documentation.

Jan Guppy, Senior Project Manager, Rossion Inc.

”There are several factors which accounted for an excellent impression on the translation services provided by Mr. Thomas Tolnai:on the technical skills side – high translation accuracy, attention to detail and flexibility to implement additional suggestions along with a fast and professional response to all requirements.”